Coming in a few weeks: A natural way to color those Easter eggs.
Daniel Salzler No. 1294
EnviroInsight.org Six Items February 14, 2025
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1. Eggs, Avian Flu: ‘It’s Exploding Faster And Faster’: Arizona Farms, Consumers Face The Growing Toll Of Bird Flu KJZZ | By Phil Latzman Published February 13, 2025 at 4:30 AM
As you may have noticed, the price of eggs has skyrocketed in recent months.
But the problem has little to do with inflation. It has a lot more to do with a virus that’s responsible for millions of laying hens around the country and here in Arizona being euthanized.
And no place has felt the effects of bird flu more than Hickman’s Family Farms, based in Buckeye.
“The virus is in the environment. Everybody was complying with all the procedures, including showering, change of clothes, everything and we still got it,” said Glenn Hickman, who runs the farm that started on his grandmother’s porch in Glendale with a flock of 50 chickens in 1944.
Two recent outbreaks of the latest strain of the virus, called H5N1, in November and again in January, forced them to euthanize over 1 million laying hens.
“We were able to get a clean bill of health. We sanitized, sterilized, swabbed the barns multiple times to make sure we had eliminated the virus. And we started putting birds back in there on Jan. 6, and on Jan. 22 they became reinfected,” Hickman said.
Hickman says farms around the country have had to kill off 40 million hens in recent months, and there’s no sign of the virus going away.
“It was thought to be seasonal,” he said. “We had the first infection of this go around in February of 2022 in Maryland, so we are at the three-year mark right now and it doesn’t — if anything, it’s exploding faster and faster.”
Hickman sees only one solution to eradicate this latest strain.
“There’s been countries in Europe that have been fighting the same battle and they’ve chosen to vaccinate their poultry. And so, that’s what they’ve done to protect their food supply, because at the end of the day, we are making food.”
Experts says vaccinations must be at least part of the plan.
And that vaccine is American-made. So why isn’t it being used here?
Arizona’s state veterinarian, Dr. Ryan Wolker, says it hasn’t gotten to that point, just yet.
“We have maintained that status without the benefit of vaccinations, so on the international stage, that does give the United States significant advantages for trade agreements, so if we start vaccinating, we lose some of that access.”
But Wolker says since it’s been going on so long now, it needs to be addressed differently and vaccinations must be at least part of the plan.
“We’re going on the third year of this outbreak and so we have to look at all options on the table to include vaccination going forward, just given how long this outbreak has been going on.”
Wolker says that would also involve inoculating dairy cows who have been infected with a different strain of the virus that could make it spread more easily in mammals.
For now he says humans have little to fear, unless they drink unpasteurized milk.
“The cases that have been identified in humans across the country have been in poultry farms
workers or dairy farm workers that have very close contact with those animals, or birds for extended periods of time. And so the risk to the general populace is very, very low,” Wolker said.
‘It would be all hands on deck’ Will Humble, who is executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, agrees there’s little threat to humans, right now. But that could change.
“This is a crafty virus and it’s able to mutate itself, and has been able to since the beginning of time. And it’s trying to find a way to infect humans, someway somehow,” Humble said.
Humble believes that’s why it needs to be contained as soon as possible.
“Eventually it’s possible that one of those mutations will turn it from what is now largely an agricultural virus, mostly with poultry, into something that would spread human to human and cause bad clinical outcomes. Now that hasn’t happened, and may not happen at all. But if it does, it would be all hands on deck.”
Whether for humans or animals though, vaccine skepticism has taken over at the highest levels of government.
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine advocate, has said there’s no evidence shots will work and that they quote “appear dangerous.”
Volker doesn’t believe it’ll be an issue.
“I don’t think the quote unquote anti-vaxxer
sentiment plays a role in this. You know, we do rely on science and evidence-based medicine to dictate strategies going forward,” Wolker said.
Glenn Hickman says because bird flu has cut the supply of eggs by 10% to 15% nationwide, egg prices shouldn’t be a touchstone for partisan politics.
“Democrats, Republicans and independents alike eat eggs. And so it’s non-partisan. Food production is non-partisan. Both parties want to use the price of eggs as a token to stand in for inflation.”
2. It’s Time To Start Planting Your Vegetable Garden. For a complete list of when to plant, go to EnviroInsight.org. Click on the menu (three horizontal lines on the top right) and then click on “Growing Your Own Food In Your Back Yard with Sonoran Soil”.
If you go here, here’s a sample of what you will find.
3. Almost Half Of Arizona Is Experiencing Extreme Drought Conditions. As Arizona enters the final month of a bone dry winter, almost half the state is experiencing extreme drought conditions.
The U.S. Drought Monitor map for Feb. 11 showed 46.7% of the state, including most of Maricopa County, in the extreme drought range, aka D3.
The figure was just 1.8% at the same time last year and 8.3% three months ago.
According to the Arizona State Climate Office, July 2021 was the last time extreme drought covered more than 46% of the state.
Why is so much of Arizona facing extreme drought conditions?
Rain and snow have been scarce in the Grand Canyon State this winter. In fact, Arizona just experienced its driest December-January on record, according to Arizona State Climate Office Director Erinanne Saffell.
“That doesn’t bode well for our water supply,” she said.
However, a dry winter doesn’t necessarily mean a dry summer will follow, Saffell explained.
“We just came through two very dry summers, and, statistically, we don’t usually have three dry summers in a row,” she said. “My fingers are crossed that we’re going to have a normal monsoon season, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
In addition, Arizona could get wet outside the usual winter and summer rainy seasons, she noted.
“We can still get it coming in March. Last April, we had some snow, but it’s not likely going to happen as much as we need it to,” she said.
In the meantime, Saffell is encouraging Arizonans to be mindful of their water usage.
“I remember I grew up here in Arizona in the 1970s watching those commercials on the cartoons on Saturday telling us not to let our water run, and I think that’s a good idea,” she said. “Just use a limited amount of water, whatever you need. Be in touch with what you’re doing with your water supply.”
2024 weather recap: What other records were set in Phoenix?
The city’s 2024 recap is almost exclusively related to heat records.
Phoenix experienced a record warm month on five occasions — June, September, October, November and December.
There were 43 instances where a daily heat record was tied or broken in Phoenix, including a 21-day streak in September and October.
Phoenix had 188 days of 90-degree weather, 143 days of 100 degrees and 70 days — a new record — of 110-degree heat.
Conversely, there were zero record low temperature days in 2024.
Rain totals were also lower than average the past year.
Phoenix saw 4.54 inches of rain, the 23rd-driest year since records started being kept in 1896. (The editor received a total of 3.0 inches in 2024 in Glendale.)
The monsoon season, which spans from June 15 to Sept. 30, dropped just .74 inches of rain. It was the seventh-driest season on record. Source: KTAR
…and cities and town around the state set all kinds of records in 2024.
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